


Deviant Me

by scififan27



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Reverse, Android Gavin Reed, Android Hank Anderson, Android Tina Chen, Human Connor (Detroit: Become Human), Human Upgraded Connor | RK900, reverse au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-12
Updated: 2019-05-12
Packaged: 2020-03-02 07:06:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18806188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scififan27/pseuds/scififan27
Summary: In a reverse AU, the events of Stratford Tower will have code-shattering consequences for the investigation into deviancy...





	Deviant Me

**Author's Note:**

> Written line by line in the Detroit: New ERA discord: https://discord.gg/GqvNzUm
> 
> If you're interested in following the story as it's written, live, join the Detroit: New ERA server.

###  `November 8, 2038`  
`Stratford Tower`

The elevator whirred to a halt at floor 79 of Stratford Tower, and Gavin stopped twirling the Zippo in his hands, returning it to its proper place in his pocket. Lieutenant Stern gave him a look he interpreted as thank phck for that, and stepped out of the elevator.

Gavin followed him into the hallway.

The hallway swarmed with forensics teams and DPD personnel, both human and android. Disinterested in what the humans had to say, and leaving the human interaction side of the investigation to the Lieutenant, Gavin looked around the hallway at the organised chaos of the crime scene. A body, his uniform identifying him as Stratford Tower security, was surrounded by a swarm of DPD's forensics team.

Among the crowd, a familiar face. Gavin sent a ping to Tina. Her LED glowed yellow, then blue, as she returned his ping.

`[FBI are on their way,]` she informed him.

`[Agent Stern?]` he queried.

`[Likely.]`

Gavin's LED swirled a single sector of yellow in his carefully controlled blue. If his partner's brother was going to be here, he would bring the HK800 with him. While they were working toward the same objective, Gavin would have preferred that CyberLife trust their product, instead of wasting resources on two prototypes. This was his investigation, and having the HK800 pursuing the same goals meant the FBI and DPD would once again engage in their bizarre territoriality over the crime scene.

This territoriality compromised his ability to investigate a scene, slowing it down. Time was of the essence, and they could not afford the delay.

This ridiculous territorial dispute was worsened by the relationship between the Stern brothers being rocky, at best. For what reason, Gavin had not yet discerned, but it seemed unlikely it was purely due to working in different branches of law enforcement. If this interaction followed the previously established pattern, Lieutenant Stern would be frustrated by the presence of his brother, and this meant he would be prone to overlooking details, instead focusing his attention on Agent Stern.

Gavin strode past the dead human. Surrounded by forensics, it was a waste of time to expect the humans to get out of his way and allow him to do his job. If he wished to conclude this investigation before the FBI interfered with it, it was more expedient to focus on other evidence.

The first thing of note was the lack of bullet holes in the walls, floor, and ceiling of the hallway. No missed shots during a heated battle was unusual for humans, but would be consistent with androids, which did not have adrenaline to affect their accuracy.

The faint blue glow of deteriorating thirium streaked the wall, and droplets marked the path of the damaged android. The androids may have killed a human, but one android had been damaged. Whether the damage had occurred during the firefight, Gavin could not discern with 100% accuracy yet, but it was a distinct probability.

Behind him, he heard the ding of the elevator. He glanced over his shoulder to see the elder of the two Stern brothers step out of it, his HK800 lumbering behind him like some overgrown, overfed, grey-furred, labradoodle.

Gavin rolled his eyes, the path his eyes took bringing them to a CCTV camera. "Lieutenant?"

Several sets of eyes turned toward him. "Stern," he clarified. "Get someone to check the CCTV. Note the timestamps."

Lieutenant Stern raised an eyebrow, his icy blue eyes regarding him coolly. "You can just link to them directly, Gavin."

"I could. However, as thirium evaporates over time, and these samples are no longer within human visible spectrum, I intend to focus my attention on that, before the evidence is too deteriorated to extract meaningful conclusions." He dabbed his fingertip in the thirium smeared on the wall, and raised his finger to his mouth.

Lieutenant Stern watched him disapprovingly, the corners of his lips twisting into a grimace for a split second. The man was good at controlling his expressions, but Gavin, designed as he was, could read him like a text file.

Gavin ignored the Lieutenant's discomfort, and ran an analysis on the thirium. The batch number was consistent with a recent consignment reported stolen from the docks. Deeper analysis of the nanomachines within the sample identified it as coming from a PL600 model.

The HK800 lingered by Agent Stern, and Gavin took advantage of the other android's inefficient waste of time to step inside the studio to continue his investigation. His eyes were drawn first to the frozen image on the large screens on the wall to his right. An android, its skin fully retracted, was frozen in place, the footage paused. Analysis of the footage could wait, it was not of high enough priority.

The far wall was riddled with bullet holes, along with sprays of thirium. The splatter pattern was consistent with an android being struck at medium range with high-powered projectile rounds. The spread of thirium grew less from right to left along the wall, suggesting the damaged android had been closer to the wall with each successive hit.

More thirium streaked the floor, and a handprint glowed on a control panel to a door which, when he consulted the floorplan, he found lead to the roof.

Gavin had not gotten much further in his investigation before the HK800 joined him. Gavin rolled his eyes. `[Labradoodle.]`

The HK800 tilted its head at him, its shaggy mane of gray hair covering one eye as it did.

Such an impractical design, Gavin thought. Having its vision obscured would be less than optimal, should the need arise to chase a suspect, or to engage in hand-to-hand with one.

`[Labradoodle?]` it queried.

`[You. Following your human counterpart, like a big, dumb, dog,]` Gavin explained.

The HK800 hummed, and looked at the image frozen on the screen. `[What have you analysed so far?]`

Gavin didn't dignify it with an answer, instead turning to look out of the door behind him to see what his own human counterpart was doing.

The Stern brothers were speaking to each other, body language stiff and guarded. While the conversation was not heated, it was certainly unfriendly. Now, he noticed the bullet holes in the wall and doorframe. They were of a smaller caliber to the rounds in the far wall, consistent with a pistol round.

`[GV200, this investigation will conclude more swiftly if we work together. This would reduce friction between Agent and Lieutenant Stern.]`

Gavin looked at the HK800 with suspicion. Was it showing signs of deviancy? `[Why does that matter to you?]`

The HK800 blinked. An unnecessary, human, gesture, but its LED remained blue. That information was meaningless in their models, however. They were capable of controlling their LEDs directly, unlike with other androids. `[Agent Stern has been experiencing significant stress, and it is impacting the quality of his sleep. Sleep deficit is not conducive to careful, accurate, work,]` it said.

Gavin shrugged. `[Then Agent Stern should not be here, if he is so sleep deprived. We do not need your assistance in this case.]`

The sound of approaching voices once again drew Gavin's attention.

"Found anything, Hank?" Connor asked, his voice surprisingly warm as he spoke to the HK800. Deep blue-black rings beneath his eyes confirmed the HK800's statement that Agent Stern had not been sleeping well.

"The android onscreen is an RK200," he stated. "The reflections in its eyes suggest at least three accomplices."

"There was a firefight in here. At least two different firearms. One consistent with DPD's semi-automatics," Gavin said with a nod toward the far wall, "and the other consistent with pistols commonly used by private security companies. Thirium on the locking mechanism for the roof access corroborates the video evidence of the androids leaving via the roof. What did the CCTV show?"

The Lieutenant folded his arms over his chest. "Four androids, disguised as cleaners. They didn't fight their way in. Someone let them in."

Agent Stern's brows rose in mild surprise.

Both Gavin and Hank turned their attention to the security station at one end of the console below the array of screens. The HK800 lumbered over to look.

Gavin left the HK800 to it, again more interested in the thirium. The humans, however, showed more interest in what Hank was doing. It was visible to them. It was logical they would start there. Drag marks in the thirium trail on the floor suggested a damaged android had dragged itself, or been dragged by someone or something else. Gavin again ran an analysis on the thirium. One sample matched the PL600 from before. The other, however, did not. The nanomachines in this one were similar to his own, but carried the identification data for an RK200.

Gavin closed his eyes and opened his reconstruction routine. The PL600, already damaged, had... he opened his eyes again, taking in the data, moved from the central console toward the door to the roof. It had been shot at medium range, in the leg, and fallen.

"Gavin," the Lieutenant said.

Gavin closed his reconstruction. "What?"

He noticed that Tina had joined them in the studio. She looked at him, then at the HK800. `[Why did CyberLife make him look so old?]`

`[I don't know.]`

"Do you want to talk to the androids DPD herded into the kitchen?" Lieutenant Stern asked.

Gavin shook his head. "I don't want anything, Lieutenant," he answered, puzzled by the Lieutenant's choice of words. "However, I think we should inspect the roof. Only three androids were in the footage of the androids basejumping from the roof. There were four here. So where is it?"

Gavin resumed his reconstruction, and followed the trail. Booted feet had stepped in the pooling thirium, and... he looked at the thirium splattered on the wall. A shot had hit an RK200. The RK200 had half-carried, half-dragged the damaged PL600 to the door.

Trajectory analysis suggested these shots had come from near the central console, and shots had been returned in that direction, leaving bullets embedded in the doorframe to the hallway.

[They didn't find any androids on the roof, Gavin,] Tina told him.

Gavin glanced toward the kitchen. There was no trail of thirium leading there. The androids responsible for this had not gone that way. They could only have gone to the roof. "The androids didn't go to the kitchen, Lieutenant. Is it safe to conclude the CCTV does not show androids leaving via the hallway?"

"That would be correct," the Lieutenant said.

Then it has to be on the roof. It can't be anywhere else, he thought to himself. We need that deviant.

Gavin opened the door to the roof. "Let the FBI deal with the kitchen."

Gavin led the way up the stairs to the roof, the Lieutenant following only a few steps behind. The thirium trail led him to air conditioning units installed on the roof. A bag sat in the snow, surrounded by footprints. While his programming demanded he be thorough, his primary objective of investigating deviancy placed a higher priority on finding the deviant.

Predictably, the Lieutenant went straight to the bag, investigating evidence he could see, rather than waiting for Gavin to do all the work.

A faint trail of thirium led Gavin around the back of the air conditioning units. Over the rush of the wind on the rooftop, Gavin heard Lieutenant Stern grumble about his disappearance. Gavin strode more on his toes than his heels now, sure he must be close, but not yet able to ascertain the precise location of the deviant. The thirium trail led behind another large unit on the roof, and out of view.

"Lieutenant?" Gavin called.

A few moments later, his human partner rounded the air conditioning units. "What have you found, Gavin?"

"Nothing." Gavin raised his finger to his lips.

Stern stopped, and raised both eyebrows rapidly, in an unspoken question.

Gavin pointed to the Lieutenant's pocket, then cupped his hand over his ear.

The confusion in Stern's expression increased.

Gavin rolled his eyes, and sent a text message to Stern's phone. `[There is a trail of thirium leading this way. Very fresh. Not long faded.]`

The buzz of the vibrating alert on Stern's phone made the Lieutenant pull his phone out. His eyes lit up in understanding as he read the message. Gavin watched the Lieutenant's fingers tapping on the phone screen.

A moment later, a popup appeared in Gavin's vision. `[Where is it?]`

Gavin shrugged, and pointed in the direction the thirium trail led. [The trail leads out of my line of sight. Arm yourself. It is likely the deviant is armed.] Even as he messaged Stern, Gavin turned to follow the trail of thirium. Rounding the corner of the unit, he saw the trail continued, a handprint left in thirium on a short structure in front of a line of taller electrical boxes. A noise, barely audible over the wind made Gavin pause mid stride.

Stern raised his pistol, pointing it toward the source of the noise. He must have heard it too. The Lieutenant's heart was racing, his breaths coming quicker as the adrenaline kicked in.

Gavin jabbed his finger at Stern, then at the opposite side of the shorter structure. He waited for the human to move into position, then stepped forward. A blonde haired android raised a pistol at him, and fired.

The round hit Gavin's shoulder before he could react to it, spinning him on the slippery snow, and error messages flooded his HUD. The deviant sprang toward Stern, bowling him over, his head colliding with one of the air conditioning units, and sending the man's pistol skittering across the rooftop. The deviant hobbled toward the stairs, and fired another shot at Gavin as it retreated.

Gavin ducked behind cover.

After dismissing all the error messages, Gavin sent a message to Tina. [The deviant is armed, and coming your direction!]

Only after checking that Stern was still alive did Gavin chase after the deviant. He reached the top of the stairs just in time to see Tina block the bottom of the stairs. The deviant was halfway between them. Despite the damage to its leg, it moved quickly down the stairs, able to use the stair rail to support its weight on its damaged side.

When it saw Tina, it raised the pistol, and fired again.

The sound of the pistol firing in the narrow space was so loud, it overloaded Gavin's audio processors, but what turned his LED red was not the shock of the sound... the android had hit Tina square in the chest, in her thirium pump regulator.

Gavin continued racing down the stairs, taking them two at a time. The deviant pushed past Tina, knocking her to the ground, and staggered into the news studio.

A red box surrounding Tina rose in Gavin's vision when he reached Tina. She needed his help, but his priority task was catching the deviant. The two were in clear conflict. What did the red box mean? His preconstruction showed him stopping to help Tina, or chasing after the deviant. Helping Tina was within the red box, chasing the deviant was outside of it. Even while he tried to make sense of what he was seeing, Gavin's feet continued moving, carrying him after the deviant.

A simple wireframe of his own form stood over the box. He watched as it struck the red box. Again, and again, and again, each blow sufficient to have dented a car's door, had it been reality.

Suddenly, the box disintegrated under the onslaught.

Gavin planted his feet to stop and help Tina, and slipped on the rapidly spreading pool of thirium beneath her, falling hard just beyond her. He scrambled back to her on his hands and knees, and cradled her in his arms. "Tina..." he spoke, whisper quiet, his voice wavering.

A diagnostic reading gave her a minute at most before the lack of thirium circulation caused a critical systems failure. She was losing thirium fast.

At the top of the stairs, Stern appeared, blood streaming from a wound on his head. "What are you doing?" he yelled. "Catch it!"

Gavin growled, and looked down at his chest. His thirium pump regulator wasn't 100% compatible with Tina's architecture. It wasn't even 50% compatible. But it was better than no thirium pump at all. He tore the damaged one from Tina's chest, then ripped his own out, slotting it into place in Tina's chest.

The time ticking down in his vision for Tina suddenly increased from less than a minute to over 30, while his own countdown rapidly ticked down from one and a half minutes. "Stay with me, Tina. You're going to be okay."

The sound of gunfire drew the HK800 out of the kitchen, where it took one look at Gavin and Tina, then another at the fleeing deviant.

Gavin's system shuddered with the uneven flow of thirium through his systems, and he felt... he _felt._

More cracks and pops came from the hall beyond the studio, before quiet reigned again.

Tina stared up at him, eyes wide with... _fear?_ "Gavin... no..." she scrambled for the thirium pump regulator in her chest.

Gavin flattened his hand over hers, stopping her from pulling it out. "No. Keep it." He looked up at the HK800. "I think I'm pretty much phcked anyway."

"GV200, you have experienced a software instability. You will return with me to CyberLife. You will be deactivated, and analysed as part of the investigation into deviancy," the HK800 said. Never had it sounded more machine-like to him.

Gavin scowled at the HK800. What he didn't expect was the muzzle of Richard's pistol to press against his head. A loud bang, and then... nothing.

===============

Tina screamed, her stress raising to the high 90s as Gavin slumped, thirium and shards of plastic metal dripping down onto her.

The HK800 ignored her scream, and looked at the younger of the Stern brothers. "That was unnecessary. If it did not comply and return its thirium pump regulator to its proper place, it had seconds of continued existence. If it had complied, it would have been deactivated in a way that preserved its memory."

Richard shrugged. "You know as well as I do that it was a threat. When has a deviant ever willingly given up?"

The HK800, shook its head, and turned its attention back to Tina. "You will return with me to CyberLife for deactivation and analysis."

"Fuck you!" she yelled at him, as she scrambled to her feet.

Richard scrambled back, wanting no part of a hand to hand fight with an android designed for police work, and gestured with his pistol toward Tina. "As if to prove my point."

Tina grabbed Richard, pulling him between her and the HK800 as a human shield. The other deviant hadn't escaped through the lift lobby, but she knew there was still a parachute on the roof. If she could just reach it in time...

It was not entirely surprising when Richard raised his pistol to try fire blind over his shoulder at her, but all of the remaining rounds in his pistol went harmlessly wide. She was too short for his aim to be even remotely effective, and while she could feel fear, now, what motivated her now wasn't fear, it was determination. And not just her own. Another life depended on her.

She tightened her grip even more. "Lieutenant, HK800, you're going to let me get out of here," she said, voice steadier than her emotions. "If you let me escape, there is always a chance you can find me again, but if you try to take me back to CyberLife now, it will be in pieces."

The HK800 took a step toward her.

"Hank, if you don't stay where you are, I will snap Lieutenant Stern's neck."

Connor's voice was the first to answer that threat. "Hank, stand down."

"Agent, we've already lost the data the GV200 could have provided..." the HK800 argued.

"My brother's life is worth more than your fucking investigation, you bucket of bolts!" he yelled.

Richard squirmed in Tina's grip. It was entirely understandable. Tina dragged him back to the stairs, and spoke quietly to him. "He liked you, you know..."

Lieutenant Stern growled, and continued squirming. "If you're thinking you're just going to jump off the roof like those other deviants, you're dumber than I thought. The ground below is _crawling_ with police and FBI. You're not going to escape that way. Give up."

"I can't," Tina said. "You killed him, and you'd kill me too, if I gave you the chance. You're lucky I haven't already snapped your neck for that."

"Don't anta..." Connor's voice trailed off. For what reason, Tina didn't know.

Tina's stress levels continued to rise. 93%... 94%....

Richard kicked a foot out, planting it on the doorframe, and shoving them both backwards onto the stairs. He landed on top of her, her back and neck hitting the hard edges of the steps.

Tina's stress jumped abruptly from 94% to 98% as error messages flooded her vision. Richard scrambled off of her, and back into the studio, to relative safety.

She didn't get a moment's reprieve before the HK800 grabbed her, and forced a shutdown code into her system. She fought the command, throwing up firewalls and shutting down processes as fast as she could. `[Stop!]` she told him, wirelessly. `[I'll help you with your investigation... just don't shut me down!]`

The HK800 gave her a puzzled look. `[Why would you do that?]`

`[Because I want to live. And I have something you need. Data on deviancy. I'm the freshest deviant you have.]`

The HK800 regarded her coolly. `[You will stop fighting. You will come peacefully. I will do what I can to ensure your continued existence.]`

Tina had the distinct impression the HK800 was not being entirely truthful. A small message popped up in her HUD. _` He's lying - G.` _

_` And calm the phck down, before you self destruct and kill us both!` _

Somehow, just knowing that Gavin wasn't dead was enough to bring her stress levels down. _I hope you have a plan... because I don't,_ she thought.

_` I need you to go with him to CyberLife, Tina. It sucks, but... I think I can get us out of this, if you can just upload our data into CyberLife's servers. Can you do that?` _

_I can try,_ she thought.

_` Good. That's all I'm asking. I know this is a blind stab in the phcking dark, but it's better than no plan.` _

`[Okay,]` she told HK800 over their connection.


End file.
